In my former career, I worked with communications and communication security (which included cryptography). It is a topic that will always be near and dear to my heart. This month, I read the following books:
How to Be an International Spy by Andy Briggs
This book covers lots of different topics associated with being a spy. The science around it all ranges from psychology to quantum physics. It includes lots of practice activities to help you fully engage in the topic.
Top Secret Science: Projects You’re Not Supposed to Know About by Jennifer Swanson
If you’re looking more for the history of secret projects, this is the book for you. It looks at a variety of programs that were run in secret.
Can You Crack the Code? by Ella Schwartz and Lily Williams
If your goal is to learn how to create and crack secret codes, you might want to check out this book. It does a great job of covering the major cryptography methods. There are lots of secret codes to practice with, too.
Rather than making up activities to go along with these books, I want to share some of the fabulous resources that are already out there that would pair well with this month’s theme.
Check out “The Farm”
The CIA may be a secretive organization, but they’ve got an online presence. There are stories, games, activities, and other things for young readers to explore on their CIA Spy Kids site: https://www.cia.gov/spy-kids/games
They’ve also developed lesson plans for teachers: https://www.cia.gov/spy-kids/parents-teachers
Delve into Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity ensures that electronic devices are protected from criminal or unauthorized use. There are lots of career opportunities in cybersecurity, so it’s a great topic to learn more about.
The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Center for Infrastructure Assurance & Security (a.k.a. UTSA CIAS) has lots of resources for teachers and students on their website. Their activities cover grades K through 12. Here’s their main page: https://cias.utsa.edu/k-12
Their Cyber Games are found here: https://cias.utsa.edu/k-12/cybersecurity-games
Microsoft and Minecraft teamed together to provide resources for teaching cybersecurity, too. Check that out here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2023/10/elevate-cybersecurity-expertise-with-microsoft-and-minecraft-education
Learn About Public Key Encryption
Public Key Encryption is used to secure many different types of transactions on the internet, from email to online store payments. This video from PBS NOVA labs does a great job of explaining at a high level how public key encryption works: https://youtu.be/5xI4IJbHDiM?si=mM6cZJdTDUjeqVOs
NOVA Labs also has a cybersecurity game online: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/cyber – there is an educator guide to go along with it.
Cryptography in History
Pretty much all the books this month talk about the long history of secret-keeping (and cryptography to help with that). Here are some web sites that explore cryptography in history.
“The Secret Code of Lewis and Clark” activity: https://lewisandclarktrail.com/legacy/secretcode.htm
“Cryptology in the American Revolution” videos from NSA’s National Cryptologic Museum:
https://youtu.be/0smfiPWSHCQ?si=0ATj8hRevfpze0vo
https://youtu.be/WXEX7xFIz9E?si=AWh8GF4B7yD1Uo35
The National Cryptologic Museum also has videos on Steganography, Ciphers, or Visual Signaling during the American Revolution. For these and other videos, check out this playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWvkfYC3snpVYffYpKwjsbxwDO9IaNli7&si=3mYvmWEirAtp035P
More Resources
There are lots of cryptography and spy-related museums and websites out there to explore. Here are a few more you might want to check out.
The Spy Museum in Washington, DC: https://www.spymuseum.org – if you can’t get there in person, they also have some resources and activities online. They even have a podcast and a YouTube channel.
In the New York City area, there is the Washington Spy Trail. This includes a series of historic sites on Long Island that are associated with George Washington’s circle of spies during the Revolutionary War. If you’re lucky, you can tour some sites in person. If not, you can learn about some of it online: https://washingtonspytrail.com
You can learn more about American Civil War spies online: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/spies.htm – each spy is associated with at least one National Park.
Janet Slingerland has written more than 20 books for children. Her book History’s Forgotten War Stories – https://www.12storylibrary.com/non-fiction/hidden-history/forgotten-war-stories-history – includes secrets and spies. To find out more about Janet and her books, check out her website – http://janetsbooks.com
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